Imitation vs. Allegorization: Martin Opitz’s Influential Proposal Concerning Poetic Reflections on Nature
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John Pizer
Abstract
Martin Opitz (1597−1639) is widely regarded as the “father of German poetry” based on his treatise Book of German Poetry (Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey, 1624), as this was the first book written in the German language to elucidate a prescriptive poetics to be used for guidance by the nation’s contemporary writers. His recommendations on the appropriate use of prosody, rhyme, alliteration, and genre-driven themes were highly influential for German-language poets in the early modern period. He also proposed in this work, in a rather cursory manner, that poetry should be based on the ideal imitation of nature, not existent nature, but nature as it could or should be. This means poetry should evoke the hidden essence of nature, not, as sometimes assumed, simply focusing on its pleasing, harmonious aspects. Critics have overlooked this latter aspect of Opitz’s work when they associated it with the stale vraisemblance poetics of German Neoclassicism, exemplified by Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700−1766), who extravagantly praised Opitz in his own work. My essay shows that Opitz was more aware of the historically conditioned character of poetry, which is to say the historical and social circumstances of the period during which it was composed, than was the case with Gottsched and the Frenchman Charles Batteux (1730−1780), who exercised an even stronger influence on German Neoclassicism than Gottsched. Based on a reading of Opitz’s Vesuvius: Poema Germanicum (1633), my essay will demonstrate that Opitz’s own poetic practice alternated between imitation and allegorization in a rather scientific portrayal of the eponymous Italian volcano (as well as vulcanism in general in this poem’s paratexts) and in its representation of the eruption as a portent of divine wrath at the destructiveness of the Thirty Years’War. This ambiguity is also evident in Opitz’s evocation of the natural sublime, anticipating the nature qua nature views of Immanuel Kant (1724−1804) and Edmund Burke (1729−1797) but also rooted in more mainstream eschatological German Baroque poetry. The conclusion will show the historical circumstances that generated such ambiguity in Opitz’s poetic practice.
Abstract
Martin Opitz (1597−1639) is widely regarded as the “father of German poetry” based on his treatise Book of German Poetry (Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey, 1624), as this was the first book written in the German language to elucidate a prescriptive poetics to be used for guidance by the nation’s contemporary writers. His recommendations on the appropriate use of prosody, rhyme, alliteration, and genre-driven themes were highly influential for German-language poets in the early modern period. He also proposed in this work, in a rather cursory manner, that poetry should be based on the ideal imitation of nature, not existent nature, but nature as it could or should be. This means poetry should evoke the hidden essence of nature, not, as sometimes assumed, simply focusing on its pleasing, harmonious aspects. Critics have overlooked this latter aspect of Opitz’s work when they associated it with the stale vraisemblance poetics of German Neoclassicism, exemplified by Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700−1766), who extravagantly praised Opitz in his own work. My essay shows that Opitz was more aware of the historically conditioned character of poetry, which is to say the historical and social circumstances of the period during which it was composed, than was the case with Gottsched and the Frenchman Charles Batteux (1730−1780), who exercised an even stronger influence on German Neoclassicism than Gottsched. Based on a reading of Opitz’s Vesuvius: Poema Germanicum (1633), my essay will demonstrate that Opitz’s own poetic practice alternated between imitation and allegorization in a rather scientific portrayal of the eponymous Italian volcano (as well as vulcanism in general in this poem’s paratexts) and in its representation of the eruption as a portent of divine wrath at the destructiveness of the Thirty Years’War. This ambiguity is also evident in Opitz’s evocation of the natural sublime, anticipating the nature qua nature views of Immanuel Kant (1724−1804) and Edmund Burke (1729−1797) but also rooted in more mainstream eschatological German Baroque poetry. The conclusion will show the historical circumstances that generated such ambiguity in Opitz’s poetic practice.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- Nature and Human Society in the Pre-Modern World 29
- Unnatural Humans: The Misbegotten Monsters of Beowulf 97
- Natural Environment in the Old English Orosius: Ohthere’s Travel Accounts in Norway 135
- When Is a Good Time? Health Advice and the Months of the Year 153
- Humans Serving Nature: Beekeeping and Bee Products in Piero de Crescenzi’s Ruralia commoda 169
- Medieval Epistemology and the Perception of Nature: From the Physiologus to John of Garland and the Niederrheinische Orientbericht. Bestiaries and the ‘Book of Nature’ 189
- Waste, Excess, and Profligacy as Critiques of Authority in Fourteenth-Century English Literature 217
- “A New Flood Was Released from the Heavens”: The Literary Responses to the Disaster of 1333 253
- The Environmental Causes of the Plague and their Terminology in the German Pestbücher of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 301
- Island, Grove, Bark, and Pith: Nature Metaphors in Teresa de Cartagena 331
- Nature, Art, and Human Perception in Giulio Romano’s Room of the Giants at the Palazzo del Te, Mantua (1532–1535) 353
- Human Body, Natural Causes, and Aging of the World in Czech-Language Sources of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period 383
- Perception of Air Quality in the Czech Lands of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 415
- Johann Arndt’s Book of Nature: Medieval Ideas During the German Reformation 435
- Imitation vs. Allegorization: Martin Opitz’s Influential Proposal Concerning Poetic Reflections on Nature 459
- François Bernier and Nature in Kashmir: Belonging in Paradise? 485
- Cosmology and Pre-Modern Anthropology 505
- Praising Perchta as the Embodiment of Nature’s Cycles: Worship and Demonization of Perchta and Holda in Medieval and Early Modern Culture 549
- List of Illustrations 581
- Biographies of the Contributors 583
- Index 589
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
- Nature and Human Society in the Pre-Modern World 29
- Unnatural Humans: The Misbegotten Monsters of Beowulf 97
- Natural Environment in the Old English Orosius: Ohthere’s Travel Accounts in Norway 135
- When Is a Good Time? Health Advice and the Months of the Year 153
- Humans Serving Nature: Beekeeping and Bee Products in Piero de Crescenzi’s Ruralia commoda 169
- Medieval Epistemology and the Perception of Nature: From the Physiologus to John of Garland and the Niederrheinische Orientbericht. Bestiaries and the ‘Book of Nature’ 189
- Waste, Excess, and Profligacy as Critiques of Authority in Fourteenth-Century English Literature 217
- “A New Flood Was Released from the Heavens”: The Literary Responses to the Disaster of 1333 253
- The Environmental Causes of the Plague and their Terminology in the German Pestbücher of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 301
- Island, Grove, Bark, and Pith: Nature Metaphors in Teresa de Cartagena 331
- Nature, Art, and Human Perception in Giulio Romano’s Room of the Giants at the Palazzo del Te, Mantua (1532–1535) 353
- Human Body, Natural Causes, and Aging of the World in Czech-Language Sources of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period 383
- Perception of Air Quality in the Czech Lands of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 415
- Johann Arndt’s Book of Nature: Medieval Ideas During the German Reformation 435
- Imitation vs. Allegorization: Martin Opitz’s Influential Proposal Concerning Poetic Reflections on Nature 459
- François Bernier and Nature in Kashmir: Belonging in Paradise? 485
- Cosmology and Pre-Modern Anthropology 505
- Praising Perchta as the Embodiment of Nature’s Cycles: Worship and Demonization of Perchta and Holda in Medieval and Early Modern Culture 549
- List of Illustrations 581
- Biographies of the Contributors 583
- Index 589
